


Nothing Lasts Forever

by Ranranbolly



Category: Near Dark (1987)
Genre: Cure, F/M, Vampires, bad memories, failed cure, transfusions - Freeform, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 09:00:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8439502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ranranbolly/pseuds/Ranranbolly
Summary: Caleb and Mae find that a year after everything was said and done, maybe their fairy tale ending wasn't permanent after all.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure whether this will be a one-off, or if I'll post a few more chapters. It's a fairly small fandom, but if there's any interest, I'll keep going.

The first thing that came back were the fireflies. Oh sure, they'd always been there, dancing spots of yellow light he'd catch out of the corner of his eye once in awhile when he was heading back inside for dinner, or helping Mae with her tentative, few and far between riding lessons. But that's all they were. Just the faded magic from childhood only Sarah seemed to care about anymore.

Except, he could swear now they were so much brighter...so much slower. Painting strange lines in the air he tried to make sense of. Three weeks shy of one year since he met her. A couple days later, Mae saw the lines too...and the fear he'd tried to keep under his hat with nervous smiles and quiet suppers was reflected back at each other in their locked eyes.

Not long after that, Jackie threw him. He wasn't so much hurt as surprised, and very nearly got a couple of cracked ribs before he managed to scramble out and over the gate to get away from the wild-eyed mare. He didn't let Mae take any more riding lessons, and he didn't tell his daddy why he'd decided to start thinking about picking up some extra work in town while Sarah took on a few more chores to keep the horses fed.

When he stopped waking up for church, that's when they began to worry. Then Mae had to tape up the bedroom window and spray the edges to make sure the glass was blacked out, because they'd both started to wake up pink, even smoking before the sun was even really up...and the night...that beautiful monster he'd learned to see the magic of the first time he fed from Mae...it came roaring back to him all at once. Stronger. Better. A bitter, blazing reminder of everything he thought he'd never see again.

Caleb wasn't the kind of guy to focus his thoughts on big pictures or pretty words. He was happy with his simple life, pretending he couldn't remember and hiding from the nightmares he'd seen with Jesse and the family. Kinda hard to do, though, when you start looking at your little sister like a five course meal, or catch your girlfriend following your daddy a little too close after he cuts himself shaving.

So, 364 days to the date he'd died and lived again, Caleb came out with it.

"Daddy, I think we need to do it again."

Loy Colton plucked at the under-cooked steak Mae had served him, swimming in a lake of stagnant blood, then leveled him with one of those looks that said a little too much, and still left you asking questions you already knew the answers to, "'bout damn time you spoke up about it, boy. Figured I'd be dragging you two out to that barn myself." His voice nearly cracked as he said it, and Loy tried to cover his remark with a forced laugh to hide the fear in his eyes.

He knew he had to do it. Knew they both did...but damn if Caleb wasn't just as scared. First time he'd almost stayed dead on that table...could it really work again? The way his stomach rolled and screeched at him for even trying to take a sip of tea seemed to think otherwise. He felt like the wolf after the huntsman had come along and sewn rocks into his gullet so he couldn't run away. Couldn't run, and he almost thought that _maybe,_ just maybe...it was gonna be a hell of a lot worse now than it had been the last time.

* * *

"Mae," Sarah whispered, watching her with those pretty little eyes she'd figured Homer fell for at some point between dinner and dying.

She took the girl's hand in her own, examining her slender fingers, still in awe at how much a person could really change when they weren't stuck in the same body, growing prettier by the day and faster by the hour. Mae liked Caleb's sister. She was nice. Just like Caleb. Just as nice as she'd liked to pretend she was, if it weren't for all those corpses she left in all those open fields and burning bars with what she hated to call the only family she'd had for over twenty years. Twenty years. Enough dead people and guilt to build an army.

"He's gonna be alright, Sarah. We're gonna be okay, so don't you worry," Mae cupped her chin and smiled. She didn't need to see her own face to know it didn't reach her eyes. Not much ever did.

"What's gonna happen? Are you two gonna have to do this every year?" Sarah pulled back, lip trembling when she watched the way Mae's gaze trailed over her face and down to her neck, even if she knew she wasn't planning to act on it.

"Depends," Mae shrugged.

"On what?"

She turned away, looking back at the barn door, dropping Sarah's hand, "it just depends."

* * *

It _hurt._ God, it hurt more than feeling your skin cook, hurt more than being riddled with so many bullets down your spine you’d spit lead for days...hurt more than losing daddy and Sarah. Caleb didn’t what happened, and then just like that, he was huddled in a corner of the barn, covered from chin to chest, arms and legs, in hot, sticky...sweet blood. He could hear Sarah screaming outside, and smell the smoke pouring in when Mae slammed the door behind her to hide in the dark.

"Caleb!" Mae shouted, "what happened?  _What happened?!_ "

He couldn't hear her, all he could hear was the dying day and the coming night. Loud enough to drive you crazy.


End file.
